https://www.criminaljusticedegreeschools.com/criminal-justice-resources/criminal-justice- capital-punishment-focus/ Criminal Justice: Capital Punishment Focus Background The formal execution of criminals has been used in nearly all societies since the beginning of recorded history. Before the beginning of humane capital punishment used in today’s society, penalties included boiling to death, flaying, slow slicing, crucifixion, impalement, crushing, disembowelment, stoning, burning, decapitation, dismemberment and scaphism. In earlier times, the death penalty was used for a variety of reasons that today would seem barbaric. Some cultures used it as punishment for magic, violation of the Sabbath, blasphemy, a variety of sexual crimes including sodomy and murder. Today, execution in the US is used primarily for murder, espionage and treason. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punishable by death, and several militaries around the world impose the death penalty for desertion, mutiny and even insubordination. In middle-eastern countries, rape, adultery, incest and sodomy carry the death penalty as does apostasy (the act of renouncing the state religion). While most industrialized countries utilize lethal injection or the electric chair for capital punishment, many others still use hanging, beheading or stoning. In some states in the US, death by firing squad is also still used. Capital Punishment in US History Describes how capital punishment has played a role in US history. Capital Punishment in China Provides a history of capital punishment in China. Death Penalty in Iraq Provides current information on the death penalty as used by the Iraqi government. World History of the Death Penalty Provides information on the death penalty throughout recorded history. The Death Debate The fight between those who support capital punishment and those who oppose it is rather simple compared to many other debates. Those in support of capital punishment believe it deters crimes and, more often than not believe that certain crimes eliminate one’s right to life. Those who oppose capital punishment believe, first and foremost, that any person, including the government, has no right to take a life for any reason. They often believe that living with one’s crimes is a worse punishment than dying for them, and that the threat of capital punishment will not deter a person from committing a crime. They also believe that the risk of executing an innocent person is too high. The debate between these two sides is often heated, with both sides protesting outside court houses and jails during high profile cases. However, a worldwide poll conducted in 2006 indicates that 52% of the world’s population supports the death penalty. In the US, that number is 65%. In Support of the Death Penalty An article detailing the argument for the death penalty. Three Good Reasons Details the three main reasons why people support the death penalty. Pro Death Penalty Explains the reasoning behind the death penalty. The Case Against the Death Penalty A detailed article showing the reasons for opposition to the death penalty. Abolish the Death Penalty An organization dedicated to abolishing the death penalty in the US. Anti Capital Punishment A world organization working to eliminate the death penalty in every country. Costs and Procedures On average, it costs $620,932 per trial in federal death cases, which is eight times higher than that of a case where the death penalty is not sought. When including appeals, incarceration times and the actual execution in a death penalty case, the cost is closer to $3 million per inmate. However, court costs, attorney fees and incarceration for life only totals a little over $1 million. Recent studies have also found that the higher the cost of legal counsel in a death penalty case the less likely the defendant is to receive the death penalty, which calls the fairness of the process into question. A capital punishment case begins with a trial in front of a grand jury (typically 23 people) where the prosecutor makes it known before the trial that they are seeking the death penalty. The first part of the trial is the guilt phase, where both sides of the case is presented and the jury determines whether the defendant is guilty of the crime they are charged with. Following a charge of guilty, the next phase of the trial is the penalty trial. Both sides again present their case for punishment in front of the jury, and the jury makes a recommendation and the judge pronounces the sentence. In some states, the judge does not have to follow jury recommendation, though in most he or she does. Following the sentencing, the decision must go through direct review and state review, which acts as an appeal process for the convict. If the sentence makes it past all of the reviews, the inmate sentence is set in stone barring involvement of the President. The prisoner typically stays on death row for many years before their sentence is carried out, and in many states less than half of those sentenced to death actually receive their punishment before dying of natural causes. Freed from Death Row An article discussing the lives of those released from death row. Death Row Survivors Includes personal stories of those who survived death row. Wrongful Convictions Provides statistics on wrongful convictions in the US. Executing the Innocent An article detailing what happens when an innocent person is executed. Cases of Wrongful Execution A list of cases that the defendant was wrongfully accused, convicted and executed. Not Executing the Innocent An article arguing against the claim that the US has a 68% failure rate in execution. The Justice Project An organization dedicated to ensuring no innocent person is executed. How Many Innocent are Executed Provides information on how many innocent people are executed. Cost of the Death Penalty Provides information on the financial cost of the death penalty. Deterrent and Cost Details how capital punishment deters crime and whether it is cost effective. Cost Comparison A cost comparison between Texas and Connecticut regarding the death penalty. Maryland Death Penalty Describes the cost of the death penalty in Maryland. Capital Punishment Process Describes the process used to sentence someone to death. The Death Penalty Appeals Process Provides information on how to appeal a death penalty in Alabama. https://www.thoughtco.com/arguments-for-the-death-penalty-721136 5 Arguments in Favor of the Death Penalty byTom Head Updated January 20, 2020 Fifty-five percent of Americans support the death penalty, according to a 2017 Gallup poll. A survey the polling organization took two years later found that 56% of Americans support capital punishment for convicted murderers, down 4% from a similar poll taken in 2016. While the exact number of poll respondents in favor of the death penalty has fluctuated over the years, a slight majority of those surveyed continue to back capital punishment based on arguments ranging from religious dogma to the cost of covering a life prison sentence. Depending on one's perspective, however, the death penalty may not actually represent justice for victims. 01 of 05 "The Death Penalty Is an Effective Deterrent" This is probably the most common argument in favor of capital punishment, and there's actually some evidence that the death penalty may be a deterrent to homicide, but it's a very expensive deterrent. As such, the question is not just whether the death penalty prevents crime but whether capital punishment is the most economically efficient deterrent. The death penalty, after all, requires considerable funds and resources, making it extremely costly to implement. Moreover, traditional law enforcement agencies and community violence prevention programs have a much stronger track record vis-a-vis deterrence, and they remain underfunded due, in part, to the expense of the death penalty. 02 of 05 "The Death Penalty is Cheaper Than Feeding a Murderer for Life" According to the Death Penalty Information Center, independent studies in several states, including Oklahoma, reveal that capital punishment is actually far more expensive to administer than life imprisonment. This is due in part to the lengthy appeals process, which still sends innocent people to death row on a fairly regular basis. In 1972, citing the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty due to arbitrary sentencing. Justice Potter Stewart wrote for the majority: "These death sentences are cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual ... [T]he Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments cannot tolerate the infliction of a sentence of death under legal systems that permit this unique penalty to be so wantonly and so freakishly imposed." The Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, but only after states reformed their legal statutes to better protect the rights of the accused. As of 2019, 29 states continue to use capital punishment, while 21 prohibit the death penalty. 03 of 05 "Murderers Deserve to Die" Many Americans share this view, while others oppose the death penalty no matter the crime committed. Death penalty opponents also note that the government is an imperfect human institution and not an instrument of divine retribution. Therefore, it lacks the power, the mandate, and the competence to make sure that good is always proportionally rewarded and evil always proportionally punished. In fact, organizations such as the Innocence Project exist solely to advocate for the wrongfully convicted, and some of the convicted felons it has represented have been on death row. 04 of 05 "The Bible Says 'An Eye for an Eye'" Actually, there is little support in the Bible for the death penalty. Jesus, who himself was sentenced to death and legally executed, had this to say (Matthew 5:38-48): "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.